Monday, October 21, 2013

Embassy of Cuba in New Zealand with concurrent accreditations to the Republic of Fiji, Cook Islands, Independent State of Samoa, Kingdom of Tonga, Tuvalu, Republic of Kiribati

RESOLUTION CLAIMING THE END OF THE US BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA WILL BE VOTED FOR 22nd OCCASION IN UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA TO NEW ZEALAND

Press release

20 October 2013

For the
twenty-second consecutive occasion, next October 29th, 2013, Cuba will
submit to the consideration of the UN General Assembly the draft
resolution entitled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and
financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against
Cuba”.

Last year, 188 member states voted in favor of this
resolution, which is an irrefutable proof that the battle for the
lifting of the blockade has the recognition and support of the vast
majority of the International Community.

For
53 years now, the cruel policy of economic strangulation against Cuba
has been guided by the rationale of a memorandum submitted by Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State Lester Mallory dated April 6, 1960, the
text of which states:

“The majority
of Cubans support Castro […] There is no effective political opposition.
[…] The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is
through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic
dissatisfaction and hardship. […] every possible means should be
undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba. […] denying
money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to
bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.”

The
blockade has been and is a flagrant violation of International Law, is
contrary to the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter
and constitutes a violation of the right to peace, development and
security of a sovereign State.

At the
beginning of his Administration in 2009, President Obama announced a
fresh start with Cuba and expressed his conviction that relations
between Cuba and the United States could follow a new direction. Five
years later, all we have seen is a reinforcement of the extraterritorial
nature of the blockade and an intensified persecution of Cuba’s
international financial transactions.

The
blockade has proven to be the main obstacle for Cuban economic and
social development, the largest hindrance for expanding Cuba’s
commercial ties with the rest of the world, and has become a serious
restraint for the international cooperation that the country both
provides and receives.

The Cuban
people endures severe economic losses, which till April 2013 –after five
decades of blockade- amount to 1 157 327 000 000 US Dollars, if
depreciation of the dollar against gold value in the international
market is taken into consideration.

Cuba
cannot freely export and import goods and services to and from the
United States, nor uses the dollar in its international financial
transactions or open accounts in that currency in third-country banks.

Assistance provided by international financial institutions is also prohibited for Cuba.

The
obsessive persecution of and harassment against those establishing or
trying to establish normal relations with Cuba by the Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department, is an outstanding
feature of the extraterritorial scope of the blockade.

From
January, 2009 to September, 9, 2013, the Obama Administration had
forced 30 American and foreign entities to pay over 2.4 billion dollars
for having relations with Cuba and other countries under sanction.

An
editorial published on March 3, 2013 by the Bloomberg agency revealed
that between 2000 and 2006 alone, the US Administration had filed 11,000
investigation proceedings for alleged infringement of sanctions against
Cuba. The same information also indicated that 7,000 investigation
proceedings had been filed for the remaining countries.

All
this in a context in which US authorities themselves have acknowledged
that Cuba poses no threat to the national security of that country,
still they insist in including it in the infamous list of countries
sponsoring terrorism to justify the fierce persecution of Cuba’s
financial transactions and the reinforcement of the blockade.

The
blockade against Cuba remains the most unjust, far-reaching, severe and
prolonged system of unilateral coercive sanctions ever applied to any
country in the world for half a century.

It
is a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of a
whole people. It causes shortages and needless suffering to the Cuban
population, limits and restrains the development of the country and
seriously damages the Cuban economy.

The
major effects of the blockade are felt in the most sensitive areas of
Cuban people’s life. The decision by the Zurich Canton Bank to suspend,
under US pressure, all transfers to Cuba, affected the cooperation that
MediCuba-Suisse –a non-governmental organization- has maintained with
Cuban public health authorities in such areas as fighting cancer,
pediatrics, and HIV/AIDS prevention.

In
an unprecedented event in the work carried out by the office of the
World Health Organization/Pan-American Health Organization in Cuba, a
Canadian Bank –also under US pressure—withhold the funds for the
purchase of influenza vaccines intended for the immunization program for
the elderly.

The blockade policy is
increasingly rejected both within the United States and by the
international community. The United States must lift it immediately and
unconditionally.

Visitor Countries

Stat Counter

Creative Commons License

You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work of Cuba Journal.

You may not use the work of Cuba Journal for commercial purposes.

You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

In the case of a language translation done by the editor, the publisher or the staff of Cuba Journal, you must give proper written credit to the writer of the original piece and also to the translator.

Cuba Journal Fair Use Policy

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of Cuba. We provide this information without any profit or income to Cuba Journal. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Copy Left Rights Granted to Users. Include Link to Cuba Journal. Simple theme. Powered by Blogger.